


stop killing the flowers

by pinkmoons



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Plants, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24500896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkmoons/pseuds/pinkmoons
Summary: In which John is a huge plant nerd who tries to teach Zari how to take care of them.
Relationships: John Constantine/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi
Comments: 18
Kudos: 63





	stop killing the flowers

**Author's Note:**

> can't watch the season finale until tomorrow so i wrote this in like fifteen minutes to feel alive

When Zari visits John’s house for the first time, she expects a lot of things.

Weird gargoyle statues. A newt in a jar. Probably some burn marks on the floor. He has all of that, of course, but what Zari didn’t expect was the plants.

There are plants spread out everywhere—a huge one in the corner, one with vines that travel over the railings on the staircase, a group of succulents in the window, something that looks like a venus fly trap on the table. Everywhere she turns, there’s a new plant.

Zari has never seen John as the plant type of guy, much less the plant type of guy who is actually _really good_ at being a plant guy. It shouldn’t shock her as much as it does, but _John Constantine as a plant guy?_

There’s one right next to the couch she is sitting on, and it looks vaguely evil. “I,” she starts, and swallows as she looks at it. “Is that magical?”

“Sure is,” he says, spreading his arms out to the head of the couch, one snaking behind her shoulders. “I wouldn’t touch it, if I were you.”

“Noted.” She looks around the room again. “Are these all magical?”

“Nope,” he says. “Just that one. And the ones in the window. And the one in the kitchen.”

Zari nods as she turns her head back to face him, kicking her shoes off thoughtlessly to bring her knees up onto the couch. “You know, I never took you for someone who likes plants.”

“Why’s that, love?”

“I don’t know. Because you’re you,” she says, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “And I assumed no one on the Waverider had a green thumb and that’s why the cactus died.”

John laughs at her. “The cactus died because there’s no sunlight in the temporal zone. Also you were the only one taking care of it.”

“You know what,” Zari starts, and crosses her arms. She’ll never forget the little cactus they stole from the 1800s and kept on the ship. He was so loved until he died not even a week later.

“I can teach you sometime, if y’want,” John says, shifting so his back presses against the side of the couch and he’s facing her directly.

“To take care of plants?” Zari asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Not magical ones, though.” He gestures wildly to the ones in the window. “They’re bastards.”

“Okay.” Zari chuckles and swings her legs to the other side so they bump against his. She's never been the biggest plant person. But she’ll pretend if John cares about it, and never admit the truth because she cannot damage her reputation by being that soft for John Constantine.

“Alright,” he says, sitting up a little straighter. He reaches behind him to the strange-looking plant that looks vaguely like a giant orchid if orchids grew on what looks like a bush. He plucks off one of the red flowers, and reaches over to place it in her palm. “First lesson: always deadhead the flowers.”

“Deadhe—John this isn’t even dead,” Zari argues, running her fingers over it. It’s gorgeous, but most certainly not dead.

“Doesn’t matter,” he argues with a smug grin. “Keep it anyway.”

“You-” she cuts herself off, sighing and failing to bite back a smile at the gesture. “Thanks.”

“Second,” he says, reaching back to the same strange flower plant to rip off a flower for her.

“No!” Zari argues before he can, whacking his arm with her free hand. “Stop killing the flowers!”

“I’m not killing them,” he argues, but drops his hand away from it anyway. “The only plant killer here is you.”

“Leave the cactus out of this.”

“Fine,” he says, and jumps up to his feet without another word.

“Where-” he’s out of the room before she can even ask. Under her breath, she finishes, “are you going?”

He comes back a minute later with a small, spotted-leaf plant in his hands. He sets it down on the table in front of her and drops onto the couch next to her. “This,” he points to the yellowing leaf on it, “means it’s not getting enough sun.”

“If it’s turning yellow?”

“Correct." He pushes the blue planter it's sitting in back a little further so it's directly next to the strange maybe-a-venus-fly-trap. “So now it lives out here.”

“Ah.” She unconsciously shifts her body closer as he links their fingers together. “How do you know if it’s getting too much sun?”

“It’ll look sunburned,” he answers, glancing around the room to find an example but coming up short.

Zari listens to him talk about plants for the next hour at least, asking questions whenever he pauses. She’s mindlessly fiddling with his fingers, trying to understand exactly the difference between partial sun plants and partial shade plants. She doesn’t have a clue what any of it means, honestly, but she’ll listen anyway. There’s something about the genuine excitability on his face when he talks about sansevieria plants that makes her smile.

“Most importantly,” he says, over-dramatically as always, undoing their intertwined fingers and rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “Last but not least...”

He reaches back towards the flowers behind him for the third time. He plucks another perfectly healthy flower off the top of it, and places it in her lap with a smirk.

“ _John!_ _Stop killing the flowers!”_


End file.
